Archive for retro

As terrible as I know it is for me, I have a major cereal addition. It’s basically the only thing I never get sick of. A new London restaurant, Cereal Killer Cafe offers a dazzling array of classic and rare cereals.

Twin brothers Alan and Gary Keery have designed a truly amazing tribute to crunchy, boxed morsels worldwide, offering over 60 types of cereal and 30 types of regular and alternative milk (rejoice, ye lactose intolerant!). All milk is offered on the side, so diners can control the exact amount of crunch they desire.

Rare and imported cereals (anyone remember URKEL-O’s? I don’t) are the same price as common ones, which is rather awesome.

The walls are decorated with vintage memorabilia…

And art made of…you guessed it: cereal.

The cafe also features sweet treats and novelties in keeping with their theme.

Keery brothers…please consider a NYC location!

If anyone across the pond stops by, please tell me your impressions of the place!

I was only alive for mere months of the 70’s, so I did not have the benefit (detriment?) of seeing these fashions arise and fade organically with the changing times. It’s basically a given that anything worn in one time period will be reviled in another (then worn ironically by hipsters). But…was couples dressing really a thing?

This is, as far as I can tell, an actual catalog item, not a Roman Tarzan Baby Wrestling Champion costume.

I feel like the outfits on the left are what 70’s superheroes wore on their days off, if not too concerned with safeguarding a secret identity.

Did no one involved in this entire photoshoot notice that something is missing here? This is not how one leaves leaves the house for (presumably, by the background image) a boat ride.

Neato Coolville, an all around amazing blog, has been posting a series of Halloween wallpapers for free download. They are full of retro monster goodness!

As a result of my image hoarding “hard drive curating” I have about 200 things on my desktop at any given time, so I need a fairly simple wallpaper in order to see them all. This one fits the bill perfectly.

I’m posting the downsized versions. Click here and scroll around for full sizes!

My earliest conscious memories involve a (harmless) deep intrigue and love of darkness. As a very young child I used to enjoy traipsing around my local library, looking for spooky goodies. Still do.

Given my innate radar, I was drawn to this box immediately, as it was the only one in the kids section that had a black spine and cover with ominous writing instead of the usual kid-friendly color schemes and bubble letters.

I was further entranced by the Devil’s voluminous neck folds. Admit it…you can’t look away.

The Devil and Daniel Mouse (loosely based on the Faustian short story The Devil and Daniel Webster), was released as a Halloween special in 1978. Once I found this in the video section, I got my parents to rent it for me multiple times.

The plot (via IMDB):Finding their audience drying up in favour of rock music, two young mouse folk singers find themselves with a bleak future. Desperate for a better career and life, the female vows that she would do anything to become a rock star. Instantly, the Devil arises to take advantage of that and offers to make her a star in exchange for her soul. She agrees and she quickly becomes the star she’s dreamed of while her boyfriend, Daniel Mouse, is left behind. On the night of her greatest triumph, the devil comes to collect on her soul. In desperation, she turns to Daniel who must attempt the impossible task of trying to find an escape loophole for his girl’s release.

I’ll be straight with you here…The ending is pretty lame. Spoiler alert:

Despite a deep belief in the transformative power of song, I couldn’t get behind this. Perhaps a testament to the cynicism of my old age, I found myself thinking “A song does not negate a legally binding contract. Oh, come on Dana…it’s a cartoon! Suspension of disbelief! Think of it metaphorically, or something.” And even as a 4 year old I fast forwarded through the (intensely 1970’s) musical interludes. But this whole cartoon is worth it for the perpetually shape-shifting Devil, who is an absolute delight.

There are many fists of fury poses…

If you dig retro animation, watch this for good ol’ B.L. Zebub. Let me know what you think!

[Edit] Thank you, Bettie, for reminding me that this was sampled in Bauhaus’s “Party of the 1st Part.”

You’ve got to be kidding me. Really. (That was my reaction when I saw this product).

Did you know the delicious Kit Kat bar, made by Hersheys, once had a rival by the Mars candy company?

Milk chocolate around 3 layers of crisp wafers, packaged in break-off sticks. Look familiar? Aside from the ridiculously similar name, product specifics, and wrapper color scheme, Snik Snak’s catch phrase was “Take a break” as opposed to Kit Kat’s “Gimmie a break.” How Mars got away with this and it stayed on shelves for , I’ll never know!

I think the warped, horrible quality of the VHS commercial here only adds to it.